


Who's Keith?

by adr1anishere



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Minor Character Death, amateur writing, has hurt/comfort elements, semi-future au, we post our fics without editing them like real men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 22:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13580043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adr1anishere/pseuds/adr1anishere
Summary: Through the years, Katie Holt's answer to this question has changed drastically. From stranger to ally, from ally to friend, and from friend to lover, Keith has been one of the centers of Katie's life. This is their story.





	Who's Keith?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Camphalfgalra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camphalfgalra/gifts).



              Katie took in a deep breath and looked up at the white ceiling above her head. In her two days here, she’d gone from disliking hospitals to despising them. The dull, slow sound of the heart monitor was starting to annoy her.

              A warm hand gripped her own tightly. She didn’t need to look to see who it was. Katie softly squeezed his hand and looked at him as best as she could.

              The dumb old man was soft at heart, despite his best attempts to act tough. She’d know; after all, she had married the dork. Keith’s purple eyes were wet with tears and his odd breathing gave away his silenced sobs. Her face softened as she reached a hand out to wipe the tears from his face. “Hey, come on now. Give me a smile at least before I go,” she spoke softly.

              Age hadn’t been kind to either of them. Wrinkles were prominent on his face, his cheeks devoid of any youthful vibrancy, but his eyes remined as bright and fiery as ever. Katie really did love his eyes.

              “I love you, Katie,” he managed through his now audible sobs.

              She squeezed his hand once more, running her finger across his wedding ring. “I love you too, Keith.”

              At 8:41 AM on a Tuesday morning, Katie Holt-Kogane, aged seventy-six, passed away with her husband beside her.

\------

              Katie was sixty-five when her first grandchild was born.

              The wait outside of the hospital room was one of the most stressful times of her life, even compared to her time fighting the tyrannical Galra Empire. Every time she heard her daughter-in-law scream through the door, Katie felt her breath hitch.

              Keith was no better, but he was trying to be strong for his son and wife. They gripped each other’s hands firmly as the cries of pain stopped, listening for the tell-tale sound.

              A small cry of the infant was heard faintly through the door. Katie and Keith let out the breath they’d been holding and leaned against each other, giggling in a mixture of delight and relief. Soon, they saw their son holding his son. It was an experience Katie was sure she’d never forget.

              Cole and Julia decided to name him Samuel.

\------

              “The Way You Look Tonight” was playing on the speakers as Keith twirled Katie around their small living room.

              Katie let out a small shriek as he lowered her into a dip. “Keith!” she said, laughing so hard she could barely manage to get his name out. When he helped her back up, the two of them kissed. It was tender, it was gentle, and she felt time around her slow down. After twenty-eight years of marriage, every kiss still felt like it was the first time.

              “You two are gross,” Cole, now seventeen, grumbled, raiding the refrigerator for food.

              Keith smirked as he lifted his petite wife off of the ground into a bridal-style hold. They kissed again, although this time it was far more exaggerated. Cole marched off in a huff, mumbling to himself as his parents’ laughter filled the house.

              Katie leaned her head on his collarbone, letting herself relax into his comforting hold. His head rested against hers and the two continued to sway long past the song ended. They were 48 and 51, but they were still confident that their age would never catch up to them.

\------

              Katie was thirty-seven when she came home with their son in her arms.

              The night was a peaceful quiet that she’d never felt before as she gently laid him in his cradle. Keith’s arm wrapped around her waist and the two met in a warm embrace, looking down at little Cole Shiro Holt-Kogane. Her dad would have loved him. Her mother already adored him; Katie foresaw her mother spoiling him already.

              Keith and Katie sat down on their bed next to the cradle, keeping watch on their son. The fell asleep next to each other later that night.

\------

              Twenty years. Twenty years was how long it took for the Paladins of Voltron to come home.

              Coleen’s face was drenched with tears as she swept her daughter into a hug that was long overdue. In the two decades Katie had been gone, her mother had single-handedly uncovered the hidden operation between the Galaxy Garrison and the Galra, and she had led Earth’s fight against the Galra threatening their way into the solar system.

              Katie will never forget the look on her face when she introduced Keith to her mother. Coleen told her that she’d have to have a proper wedding ceremony on earth, despite the fact that the two had been married for fifteen years already. So at age thirty-five, Keith Kogane and Katie Holt exchanged their vows on earth instead of in the stars.

              Matt walked her down the aisle.

\---

              At twenty-five years of age, Katie Holt-Kogane was almost widowed.

              It had been an accident; a horrible accident.

              She’d never forget the feeling in her gut as the ship her husband had been on suddenly burst into flames. Her voice was horse as she screamed his name, leaving the others behind as she flew her lion headfirst into the debris. He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be.

              Katie searched frantically for his familiar red armor, for something, anything. Her heart sunk as her hopes started to plummet.

              She cried. Her voice shook as she cried, tears hitting the visor of her helmet as she cried out in pain. That’s when she saw him, floating out in space beyond the field of debris.

              On the way back to the castle, Keith never left her arms. While he was in the healing pod, she slept beside it. When he stepped out of it, fully healed and alive - he was alive. _He was alive_ \- she cried into his shirt for hours, his familiar embrace holding her as he comforted her as best as he could. Katie never left his side from that day forward.

\------

              Katie and Keith were only twenty and twenty-three when they got married.

              It was the liveliest night during their time in the castle. The wedding was an exchanging of vows and then a long night of dancing, food, and laughter. Lance claimed he was the Maid of Honor, but there wasn’t really a bridal party in Altean-style weddings, so Katie was quick to shoot that notion down. That didn’t stop him from saying it years after, however.

              Although the wedding and party had been exhilarating, Katie had the fondest memories of her sitting with her husband on the bridge of the ship, looking out at the stars and just talking. She can’t remember what they talked about or if it was of any substantial worth, but when he carried her to bed later that night and when he fell asleep with his hand still intertwined with hers, she decided that it was the best day of her life.

\------

              She probably should have seen it coming, after all, they had even talked about wanting to in the future.

              “Katie Holt, will you marry me?”

              Those words shook her to the core. She couldn’t say ‘yes’ enough times as she threw herself into Keith’s arms. She knew she was crying. She didn’t care.

              The next morning, Katie and Keith announced their engagement to the rest of the group. The shocked silence followed by abrupt cheering and words of congratulations was simply magical to her. Matt lifted her up in a hug and cried loudly. It was the happiest two days of her nineteen years of life.

\------

              At seventeen years old, Katie braced herself for the rejection, for the heartbreak. Why had she gotten her hopes up at all? She should have just buried her feelings deep inside of her and not mentioned them ever. But _noooo_ she had to be an idiot and blurt out that she loved him in the middle of a battle; and now here she was, after Keith asked her if she really meant what she’d said only a half-hour before.

              She was sure her entire face was a tomato. In fact, she was positive there was enough heat radiating off of her face that a whole new solar system could start revolving around it. Katie took in a shaky breath and forced herself to look at him. However, what she saw was the exact opposite of what she expected.

              Katie thought she would have been greeted with an look of discomfort or disgust, but no. Instead, Keith’s face was a bright red that rivaled her own.

              “I-I love you too,” he stuttered out. Katie was sure her eyes couldn’t have been any wider.

\------

              It was dark and quiet in Katie’s room. The silence was deafening, disturbed only by the creaks of the metal.

              Her eyes were red and swollen, her throat was hoarse, and she was wrapped in a blanket as she leaned against the wall. At age sixteen, Katie was fatherless.

              It had happened so quickly. She had just saw his face, saw the flash of recognition before the shot from the Galra’s gun struck him through the chest. She had held him as the life faded from his eyes. His hand had stroked her cheek as he said his last words in a quiet voice. “I’m proud of you, Katie.”

              Those words haunted her. She could have saved him. He could still be alive if she hadn’t called out to him on impulse. He could have still been alive. He could have still been-

              The door to her room slid open. Katie thought she’d locked it, but seeing as Keith was clearly standing in the doorframe, she guessed she hadn’t. Even though she’d yelled at everyone to leave her alone, she was too exhausted to even say a word to Keith. She just looked at him through her blurred vision as he came over and sat next to her.

              He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into him. She buried her face in his chest. “He’s gone,” she said, barely making a sound. “He’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone-!” Katie broke down again, her tears falling freely down her face. Keith gently stroked her hair as she cried into his shirt. She gripped him tightly, swearing to herself that she’d never let anyone she loved die ever again.

\------

              The cool desert wind ruffled her short hair as Lance suddenly shot up next to her. She managed to get her headphones off in time to hear something about a mullet and a Keith before he shot off.

              Katie stuffed everything as quickly as she could into her bag, all while shouting after the lanky boy who was down the road.

              “Wait, who’s Keith?!”

 

 

             

             

**Author's Note:**

> The second chapter of BTW is staring at me in disappointment as I continue to not edit it.  
> I also didn't edit this either but you get the point.  
> Anyways this is a gift to camphalfgalra as a thank you for being part of the reason I am now suffering in Kidge hell. I wish I could gift you a better fic but I'm running on four hours asleep and if I don't get this done now I never probably will.


End file.
